Former MSNBC Producer Rips Network

A former producer for MSNBC has grown tired of the network’s hosts unquestioning loyalty to President Obama over the government’s surveillance program and the treatment of Edward Snowden, labeling his former employer the “official network of the Obama White House.”

Jeff Cohen, who was a producer for Donahue, showed little sympathy for MSNBC, which he feels should have defended Snowden’s actions, instead of siding with the Obama administration.

When it comes to issues of U.S. militarism and spying, the allegedly ‘progressive’ MSNBC often seems closer to the ‘official network of the Obama White House’ than anything resembling an independent channel. With a few exceptions (especially Chris Hayes), MSNBC has usually reacted to expanded militarism and surveillance by downplaying the abuses or defending them.

Had McCain or Romney defeated Obama and implemented the exact same policies, treating whistleblowers like Manning and Snowden as foreign espionage agents, one would expect MSNBC hosts to be loudly denouncing the Republican abuses of authority.

But with Obama in power, a number of MSNBC talking heads have reacted to the Snowden disclosures like Fox News hosts did when they were in hysterical damage control mode for Bush—complete with ridiculously fact-free claims and national chauvinism that we’ve long come to expect from the ‘fair & balanced’ channel.

He also railed against Ed Schultz, who he said sounded like (heaven forbid) Sean Hannity when he criticized Snowden, and said another host functioned like an “auxiliary prosecutor in the Obama Justice Department” in going after Snowden.